Rear wheel removal video walkthrough

Good morning all,

I typed out a huge walkthrough guide on how to remove and replace the wheels on my 2015 Rocket 3 Roadster last year, but since it was my first time, and I had zero idea what I was doing, I didn't video my steps. Sadly, my Avon Cobra rear tire picked up a nail at only about 4000 miles, so I had another swap to do. Decided to video all the steps, and put together a walkthrough guide. I was surprised not to see any thorough videos on YouTube, so hopefully this helps anyone who's thinking of trying to do the job themselves. It's daunting at first, but you'll see that it's not too bad once you get rolling.

Make sure you read the description on the video as well, it'll address a couple things I would have done differently during this job (mainly jacking the bike up one notch higher on the stand just to make removal of the wheel a little easier)


And the forum thread in question with the total walkthrough is right here:

Entire walkthrough of both wheel removal and installation on a 2015 R3R

mstraub72 said:

Good morning all,

I typed out a huge walkthrough guide on how to remove and replace the wheels on my 2015 Rocket 3 Roadster last year, but since it was my first time, and I had zero idea what I was doing, I didn't video my steps. Sadly, my Avon Cobra rear tire picked up a nail at only about 4000 miles, so I had another swap to do. Decided to video all the steps, and put together a walkthrough guide. I was surprised not to see any thorough videos on YouTube, so hopefully this helps anyone who's thinking of trying to do the job themselves. It's daunting at first, but you'll see that it's not too bad once you get rolling.

Make sure you read the description on the video as well, it'll address a couple things I would have done differently during this job (mainly jacking the bike up one notch higher on the stand just to make removal of the wheel a little easier)


And the forum thread in question with the total walkthrough is right here:

Entire walkthrough of both wheel removal and installation on a 2015 R3R

Click to expand...

Thanks for the video. I must give credit to Jack-be-Quick for providing us with a safe lifting platform for the Rocket. On the Classic you can reach the axle bolts without messing with the pipes. Loosen everything before lifting the bike. In the Valkye, where there is no space, you remove the shocks and the rear axle drops to make the process easy. The shop manual calls for removing the pipes, which is probably much harder than removing the shocks. On the R3 removing the shocks probably works just as well. You can remove the pipes to clean stuff but it is not necessary. Removing just once shock might give you enough slack to get to the axle bolt. I remove the brake pads before removing the caliper to avoid messing the leading edges off the pads. Plus it gives me chance to clean the caliper well.

I remove the license plate bracket and, once the rim is off the drive, lift the bike until I can get the rim tilted and out the back. Then lock the lift in place lower in the air. Here you can slide the drive off the clean/lube the splines (every 10K miles or so). Use a ZipTie to prop the shaft up in order to slide the splines back on. Then pull the Zip out and tighten your bolts. To get the tire in, lift the bike, work the wheel/tyre assembly in the well, slowly lower the bike until you can hang the wheel on the drive. Once the tyre is in and the bike is safe on the floor or kick stand do your final torque checks. One tyre/rear drive service at home pays for the cost of the lift. Buy a spare rim and keep your next tyre or spare ready to go. They are cheap and ezzy to find.

Thanks will look at this after work.

Happy to help, all! I ramble as much as I type, so it's a long-ish video. Should hopefully make this job a lot easier for first timers. Once I get my new rubber, I'll do the reinstall vid too.

The quick release mounts are fantastic, strongly recommend! And 1K9s comment about getting a spare wheel is an interesting idea too...

I have heard of someone taking the drive off with the wheel on, then separate and service those two. How does that sound?

... Even heavier. Hahah...

Appreciate the time and work involved with the video, I have changed quite a few tyres in my day but usually find it less frustrating just to let the local MC shop do it what pressure are you running on your tyre? might be the light but the wear seems to show that it is to high a pressure

Keep in mind it was flat too, so the profile would likely be a little screwy, but I run whatever the factory sticker says on the frame.. 42 if I recall? Did most of the miles this time two up on a rip, so it may have had a tougher time than usual, but we're both pretty wee. Haha...

mstraub72 said:

Happy to help, all! I ramble as much as I type, so it's a long-ish video. Should hopefully make this job a lot easier for first timers. Once I get my new rubber, I'll do the reinstall vid too.

The quick release mounts are fantastic, strongly recommend! And 1K9s comment about getting a spare wheel is an interesting idea too...

Click to expand...

I did an online "chat" with Viking today.....they said the quick release hardware does not fit my bags because I have the "shock cut out" bags. That sucks. I could probably modify their hardware to fit my bags but fact is it might be a waste of time. I really can't think of a scenario where I really need to remove the bags..... but I'd still like to have that option.